The Special Characteristics of the Acharyya Part II

But the ample gift-basket filled with the ripe fruitage of eternal well-being that had been brought down into this world from the Divine Tree on high would never have been unpacked and the life-giving fruits would have remained un-tasted inside the sealed baskets of the immortal works of Thakur Sri Bhaktivinode if the task of their dissemination had not been bequeathed to a successor worthy of shouldering the high responsibility. Sri Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur is verily the manifestation of the goddess of pure learning engaged in expounding the Word of God at all time. Hailing from Sri Purusottama Kshetra in Utkal, the place of his auspicious appearance in this world, this best-beloved of Mukunda, in fulfilment of the prophecies of the scriptures that ‘the pure religion will spread from Purusottama in Utkal’, and ‘the holy Name of Sri Gaursundar will be preached at all places’, is successfully occupied in the superhuman work of carrying to all parts of the world the priceless gift of the non-harm-producing mercy of Sri Bhaktivinode Thakur which renders accessible to all jivas the shoreless Ocean of bliss. He has disclosed to the astounded vision of humanity the substantive form of a most wonderful edifice of universal harmony, crowned with the triumphantly waving banner of victory reared with complete success on the broad base of preaching of the holy Name and love of God securely laid by Thakur Sri Bhaktivinode.

The Gift of Sri Chaitanya

Under the auspices of the Gaudiya Math a huge meeting was held in the Albert Hall, Calcutta, on Sunday the 19th August. In it assembled people representing different races and holding different religious views, namely the Bengalee, the Mahratti, the Marwari, the Gujrata, the Madrasi, the Hindu, the Mahomedan, the Parsee etc.

Pandit Sreepad Sundarananda Vidyavinode B.A., the Editor of the Gaudiya, delivered his third and last lecture on the above subject. The meeting was a grand success. Never before a religious discussion attracted such a large audience, and never before a lecture was attended with such rapt attention. The eloquence and the lucid exposition of the subject-matter kept the audience spell-bound for more than three hours.

The Bhagabat: Its Philosophy, its Ethics and its Theology

The voluminous Bhagabat is nothing more than a full illustration of this principle of continual development and progress of the soul from gross matter to the All-perfect Universal Spirit who is distinguished as personal, eternal, absolutely free, all powerful and all intelligent. There is nothing gross or material in it. The whole affair is spiritual. In order to impress this spiritual picture upon the student who attempts to learn it, comparisons have been made with the material world, which cannot but convince the ignorant and the impractical. Material examples are absolutely necessary for the explanation of spiritual ideas. The Bhagabat believes that the spirit of nature is the truth in nature and is the only practical part of it.

Sri Krishna-Chaitanya is Godhead Himself

In regard to the proposition as to whether Sri Krishna-Chaitanya is Godhead Himself the only evidence that is admissible is that of the Veda, the only function of which is to proclaim the Godhead to all jivas. The Veda, the Word of God, is identical with God Himself. The Word exists eternally in the form of the transcendental sound that is always revealing God, i.e. Itself, to those who are privileged to hear. There is no other way of knowing God open to sinful jivas. What they see, hear, taste, smell, think, are relative and limited and impermanent phenomena known as material objects. The sceptics are right in holding that it is not possible for any one by means of his (materialised) mind to have any knowledge of the Absolute. Revelation is properly enough objected to on the ground that the limited mind of the jiva is constitutionally incapable of receiving the unlimited. Such is the unanimous testimony of all empirists who are the present leaders of thought in regard to the phenomena of this world. They are quite consistent in refusing to speculate on the Absolute.

Sonhood of God-head

The Western savants will be startled when they come across the above heading. They are naturally trained up with the theistic idea of the Father-hood of God-head. They have practised the devotional culture of offering their active enterprise towards an object who at first sight proves to be venerable in every respect. To think in such a light is natural. In human society we find our parents nurturing their children from the beginning of their existence and they continue to do so till the latter stand on their own legs. From this illustration people may be likely to subscribe to the opinion of considering the object of their worship in the Father-hood of Godhead. But there is some other loftier thought that can convince them as well of the other counterpart as the true centre of devotion. If the epistemologic view of Bhakti is properly scrutinised, the idea of concentrating their devotion towards their Father may tend to target the very thing to their most loving children. The three different ideas, that are prevailing among the enquirers of the next world in a theistic mood, will tell us the positions of elevationists, salvationists and devotees. In other words, their respective systems may be branded as the medium of actors, of stupefiers of manifestation and of God-lovers...

Gaudiya Math Temple Foundation Ceremony

On Wednesday last, the 26th ultimo, the ceremony for laying the foundation of the proposed Temple for the Gaudiya Math, Calcutta, was performed with great éclat. The plot of land at 16, Kali prosad Chakravarty Street, Bagbazar, recently secured for the Gaudiya Math, was very beautifully decorated with a pandal in the middle. At 7 A.M. the big procession with Sankirtan from the present Math arrived on the spot under the lead of Pandit Kunja Behari Vidyabhusan, whose whole-hearted labour brought the whole function to a successful end. Large number of people from various parts of Calcutta had already assembled there and the whole plot was overcrowded. His Divine Grace Paramahansa Sri Srimad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Maharaj entered the pandal amidst hearty cheers of the whole assembly.

Wisdom of The Harmonist (Part 1)

The Harmonist is now ready to approach the seekers of Absolute Truth, and specially persons who have got an aptitude to promote their devotional culture also, in her twenty-sixth year of publication. This Journal made her appearance long ago, though in Bengali, to create an inquisitive field among her readers who like to discern their connection with the transcendental world, although their bearing was limited to the horizon of mundane activity. The different leading ideas of religion may be arrayed to three varieties namely – (1) ever-shifting longing for ameliorating the present predicament, (2) seeking eternal rest by dismissing the three-fold locations of observer, observed and observation with a view of ignoring a personality of the cosmic fountainhead, (3) regaining the perpetual position in the corporate spiritual kingdom, evading wrong temporary interest that tempts in misguiding to lord over the phenomenal existence. We can classify the schools of religionists and philosophers on one of these three specifications. Apart from polytheistic view, we have different faces of Monism in Deity, both in the forms of personality and impersonality. Sometimes the impersonal forms terminate in pure atheism and sometimes to other multifarious speculations...

Wisdom of The Harmonist (Part 2)

There is not a Hindu who has not heard the name of this temple. The old and the young, the male and the female, the Rajah and the ryot, and the weak and the stout, all visit this temple out of a religious curiosity. Three hundred and one miles South-West of the Vice-Regal palace at Calcutta, stands this famous temple close to the seashore affording an object for a telescopic observation to the new-comer on board the ship bound for Bengal! It stands on a platform measuring 20 cubits in height from the level of water. The platform itself is 375 cubits by 400 cubits made of huge stones cemented with a mortar composed of lime and sand. The temple itself is 92 cubits in height of a structure purely Indian. The pilgrim sees its towering head from the distance of 7 miles where the shrewed Panda takes a rupee from him by shewing him the holy Chakra. This temple was erected by Raja Ananga Bhimdeb about 800 years ago in place of another one, then in a state of delapidation. In old accounts we find this temple styled Niladri or the blue hill. From this it appears that the former temple which was probably raised by the emigrating Rajah Indradyumna was a blue or dark coloured one...